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Stevie Wonder show

I can’t tell you how great the Stevie Wonder show was last week at the Bank of Whatever Pavilion in Boston. Words can simply not do justice to the almost 3 hours of incredible songs, performances, singing, emotional drama, sound, etc. I have never seen anything so thoroughly and intensely entertaining, soul-satisfying, and artful. I have been a fan since childhood, Songs in the Key of Life being the first LP I actually went to the store to purchase. I have seen him in concert once before, at the Wang Center. And that was fine, but it is as if he is now performing with heightened inspiration, which he is, apparently. In a moving introduction, accompanied by his daughter Aisha, Stevie dedicated the show to his recently deceased mother, who basically told him to get off his ass and go do what he was put on earth to do.

And there is no doubt that no one else in the world was more clearly intended to write and perform music than Wonder. I left the show absolutely stunned, gobstruck by the utter genius and mastery effortlessly demonstrated by Wonder that night. The man just exudes music. He sings as fabulously as ever. He seems to be missing zero in terms of range. And the songs — hits and deep album track alike — were an embarrassment of riches. I am unlikely to see anyone else that approaches this level of musical genius in my lifetime — an expert multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, improviser, performer. It has started a mini debate amongst my music buddies and so far no one has come up with any other figure in pop music that has accomplished all that Wonder has in all of those categories. I challenge you all, but perhaps not until you get to witness the man soon (hopefully he tours again soon) to remind you of just how much of a force this man is.